Subject: chicken: brined and roasted; spotty
I like from time to time to brine a chicken for a day or two with herbs and garlic and veggies before roasting it. It adds wonderful flavor to a bland tastijng meat. I dry the fowl off and rub it with olive oil before roasting at 500 degrees, starting with it on its breast with the legs and thighs flattened out for a half hour, then turning it right side up for another half hour. Although this produces a tasty bird, I can never get the skin to brown evenly. It always has black burnt spots and skin that looks pale. The skin does not come out crisp. Any ideas how to roast a brined chick so it comes out all golden brown? I think the brining removes some of the surface fat. The high heat method works very well for an unbrined bird, which comes out sort of tasteless, but with crisp, evenly browned skin. Suggestions?

cooking / roasting at high heat and simultaneously looking for a browned crisp crust (skin or other) means one has to achieve the right balance of temp and time to get "the thing" cooked to preference (ie internal temp) meanwhile _not_ turning the outside into charcoal.

now, if one does "the same thing" day in and day out (as in a restaurant) one gets to perfect one's technique, temperature and timing.

personally, I just chicken out - I roast "the thing" at a low(er) temp so it stays nice, moist and juicy, then when the inside is "done" I turn up the heat to blast furnace range and crisp the outside.

specifically as to "why" regarding brined vs. not-brined..... (one of) the purpose(s) of brining is to get more moisture into "the thing" - so one could wonder if brining also puts more water into the skin making it "more tricky" to get the skin up to "deep fry in place" on the bird for crispy.....
no?

>>(one of) the purpose(s) of brining is to get more moisture into "the thing" - so one could wonder if brining also puts more water into the skin making it "more tricky" to get the skin up to "deep fry in place" on the bird for crispy.....
no?

Yeah, that's what my brain is telling me. The little dear has soaked up moisture, spotting could be due to the oil/water not wanting to get together.

I would run a stunt bird through at 500, no brining. Make sure bird is more than dry inside and out, kosher salt it. No oil. This will tighten up and crisp up that skin like a champ. At this high temperature the bird won't have time to dry out, no biggie. Hooboy the wings come out like chicken candy!

See how that goes. OH yeah.

xo, Biggles

ps - Or you could dry hanging the bird in front of a fan for a while to dry it out first, then oil and roast.

This was something that Cooks Illustrated covered a few years ago. The secret is not to brine it - dry brine it (Salt it) instead. Drying the skin out (which is not possible with brining) is the key to crispy chicken that still has the juiciness of brining.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Mix 1TBS kosher salt with about a teaspoon of pepper and then rub all over all the surfaces of the chicken, including under the loosened skin of the breast, thighs and legs. You may need another teaspoon of kosher salt for the cavity. then place on a rack in the refrigerator and refrigerate overnight (6 hours at least, overnight is best). Poke holes in all of the fat deposits on breast and thighs to allow the fat to render.

Then roast breast down on the rack at 450 for about 25 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken over and insert a thermometer into the breast meat. When the breast registers 135, crank the oven heat up to 500 and continue roasting until the breast registers 160.

Thanks, KGB (I can't believe I'm actually speaking to the KGB) - What you say makes good sense, and Cooks Illustrated is brill. Think I will add some other things to the dry rub, though, because in addition to adding moisture to the bird, brining really does infuse the meat with the flavor of the herbs and vegetables one puts into the brine.